Battle of Iuka

The Battle of Iuka (19 September 1862) was a battle of the American Civil War that occurred in Iuka in Tishomingo County on the border of northern Mississippi and Tennessee. The 3,179-strong Confederate Army of the West under Sterling Price was ordered to advance from Tupelo to Nashville by Braxton Bragg, who was preparing for an offensive into Union-controlled Tennessee. Price's army encamped at the Union supply post of Iuka and waited to unite with Earl Van Dorn's Army of Tennessee, so General Ulysses S. Grant decided to launch his own two-pronged attack against the Confederates with William Rosecrans' army. Rosecrans' 4,500-strong Army of the Mississippi engaged the Army of the West in battle at Iuka, and Grant promised to send reinforcements when his men heard the sounds of battle; because of the loud sounds of the heavy gusts of winds, Grant's men were kept oblivious of the battle by an "acoustic shadow". The Union had the advantage of having the high ground, allowing for their artillery to be positioned in the best possible positions on the battlefield. Louis Hebert's Confederate brigade was twice repulsed while advancing on the enemy artillery, and the Confederates spent all afternoon assaulting Union positions. The Confederates lost Lewis Henry Hill, who was struck in the eye by a Union bullet, and the Confederate army withdrew on the night of 19-20 September. The Confederates would meet the Union in battle not long after at the Second Battle of Corinth.